The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) yesterday announced that Pilgrim's Pride Corp., headquartered in Pittsburg, Texas, has entered into two consent decrees to settle the department's allegations that the company engaged in hiring discrimination based on gender and ethnicity over a two-year period against some 5,300 applicants.

"The Labor Department is committed to ensuring that people seeking employment with federal contractors and subcontractors are hired, promoted, and compensated fairly, without regard to their race, sex, ethnicity, disability, religion, or veteran status," said OFCCP Deputy Assistant Secretary Charles E. James Sr. "This settlement of $1 million on behalf of more than 5,300 applicants should put all federal contractors on notice that the department is serious about eliminating systemic discrimination."

In separate compliance evaluations of the Pilgrim's Pride's facilities in Dallas and Nacogdoches, Texas, OFCCP investigators found that the company engaged in hiring discrimination against females based on gender, and males based on ethnicity. Under the terms of the consent decrees, filed with DOL's Office of Administrative Law Judges, Pilgrim's Pride will pay more than 4,500 applicants rejected by the Dallas facility $775,000 in back pay and interest, and will hire 361 unskilled laborers from the rejected applicant group. More than 800 applicants rejected by the Nacogdoches facility will receive $225,000 in back pay and interest, and the company will hire more than 101 unskilled laborers from the class members.